'Switch to Century Gothic to save the planet'
Arial will doom us all, says American IT director
Posted in Management, 26th March 2010 10:27 GMT
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A university CIO says that sysadmins determined to do their bit for the environment - and save cash on printer consumables - should switch fonts wherever possible to Century Gothic.
Diane Blohowiak, Director of Computing and Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, says she has switched the college's email system from Arial to Gothic default as part of a "five year plan to go green". The story comes to us courtesy of local radio station WPR.
According to Blohowiak, Century Gothic when printed out uses 30 per cent less ink than Arial, and even trounces a well-known (though unnamed) "eco font". She says that printer ink costs her department $10,000 per gallon, though obviously it is supplied in smaller units.
According to WPR, the thrifty IT chief and her academic colleagues are "interested in doing what they can to be environmentally conscious and minimize use of resources".
“But it was also appealing to people to save money on their supply and expense budgets,” she added.
A summary of the WPR report can be read as of publication by scrolling down this page. ®
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COMMENTS
Font not the problem
Inkjet inks are mostly water, a little electrolyte and some dye or pigment, thus making it some of the most lucrative clooured water on the planet,
Added to which the printer makers have gone down the route of high-tech, expensive self-destructing cartridges in a wilful and wasteful attempt to garner profit over hardware sales.
I think legislation to make cartridges non-disposable and refillable, coupled with bulk availability of vendors ink would save a hell of a lot more cash and resources than any amount of tinkering with fonts.
Chances of it happening - close to zero.
Vive la corpocracie.
ABB
Exactly so!
"...you could not print the email?"
Bloody right.
I mean seriously "says she has switched the college's email system from Arial to Gothic" was the last sentence I was expecting to see in that story. I mean FFS, if printing your email is using to much ink, don;t change the font, slap the idiots who feel the need to print every email. Make it policy that your default is "don't print email", with a side helping of "if we catch you printing email that is in any way profligate or unnecessary (i.e. most of them) it's a disciplinary for you."
Ahh! The red mist is descending ...
[corporate flashback]
I hate people who print emails. Hate them. They are evil. I understand that some things need to become matters of record and must be filed, but this does not give you an excuse to turn up out of the fucking blue and monopolise the floor's only bastard printer for SIX FUCKING HOURS. YOU UTTER UTTER BASTARDS!
[fin]
Ah, better.
What a complete crap!
Using inkjets for printing is the first major mistake.
Just thinking of the heaps of packaging and used cartridges from all that mess... AAARGH!
Set up a few B/W lasers around the office, and ONE colour laser.
Also, get a swipe-card system for them, so that after the (l)user has 'printed' something, he has to swipe his card next to the printer in order to actually get the output.
With a setup like that, you can cut it down to TWO print queues,(BW and Colour) and the user get his output from whichever printer he happens to be closest to when he needs it.
The major problem with networked printers is the heap of printouts that are never collected by the sender. Either because he 'didn't need it after all', or because the daft bugger couldn't remember which printer he sent it to. (And usually sent it to another printer when he couldn't find it)
Another bonus with Lasers is that, unlike an inkjet, leaving it unused for a few weeks doesn't mean you have to discard clogged printheads or dryed out ink carts.
Also, a decent laser is built to handle a lot more printouts than an inkjet, typically 25 - 50.000 pages/month for a 'workgroup' printer. Many inkjets are completely worn out after 10.000 pages.
lorel ipsum duller
Why print using 100% black? Wouldn't a medium shade of gray use less ink? Or am I a dithering fool?
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